Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-08-19

nesSeS before you may, In teBulylng, COM
nit the crime of perjury.
Some of you, ALSO may have personal
knowledge of the commission of Il public
offence against the laws of the United
| States, or of facts which tend to show that
such an offence has been committed, or pos
sibly attempts may be made to influence
corruptly or improperly your action as
Grand Jurors. If you are personally pos
sessed of such knowledge you should dis
| close it 10 your associates and II any at
| tempts to influence your action corruptly
| or improperly be made, you should inform
| them OF it also, and they will act upon the
| information thus communicated as II pre-
sented to them in the first instance by the
District Attorney. But unless knowledge Is
acquired in one of these ways, it cannot be
considered as the basis for any action on
your part
| We, therefore. instruct you that your in
vestigations are to be limitedr
| First--To such matters as may be called to
your attention by the court; or
Second--May be submitted to your con-
! sideration by the District Attorney; or
| Third-May come to your knowledge In
| the course of your investigations into mat
| ters brought before YOU, or from your own
| observations; or
Fourth-May come to your knowledge
| from the disclosures of your associates. You
will not allow private prosecutions to in
trude themselves into your presence ana
present accusations. Generally such parties
are actuated by private enmity, and seek
merely the qualification of their personal
malice.
If they nosess any information justifying
the accusation of the person against whom
they complained they should impart 1t TO
| the district attorney, who viii seldom fail to
act in a proper case. But If the district at
torney should refuse to act they can make
their complaint to Il committing magistrate,
before whom the matter can be investigated,
and If sufficient evidence be produced OF the
commission of a public ofiense by the ac-
cused, he can be held TO bail to answer to the
action OF the Grand Jury.
When the court does not deem the mat
ter of sufficient importance to call your at
tention to il, and the district attorney does
not think it expedient to submit the matter
to your consideration, and the private prose
cutor neglects to proceed before the commit
ting magistrate, we think it may be safely
inferred that public justice viii not suffer,
If the matter is not considered by you.
A preliminary examination OF the accused
before Il magistrate, where he can meet his
prosecutor face to face and crosseXam1ne
him and the witnesses produced by him,
and have the benefit of counsel, Is the usu-
al mode of init ating roceedings in crimi-
nal cases, and is the one which presents to
| the citizen the greatest security against false
accusations from any quarter. Ana thlS
| mode ought not to be departed from, except
| in those cases when the attention of the jury
| is directed to the confederation OF particular
| otfenses OF the court; or by the District At
| torney; or the matter is brought TO their
knOWIeuBc III Ine COURSE Oi lItlT lHNcStiSd-
| tions, or from their own observations, or
from disclosures made by some OF their
number.
The oath which you have taken indicates
the impartial spirit with which your duties
| should be discharged. You are to present
| no one from envy, hatred or malice, nor
shall you leave any one unpresent d for
fear, favor, aileet II, hope of rewaId or
gain; but shall present all things truly as
they come to your knowledge, according to
the hest Df understanding. NOll
are also to keep your own delibera-
tions secret. You are not at liberty
to even state that you have had matter I'M
der consideration. Great injustice and i'll
standing of citizen If it were known that
there had ever been before you for delibera-
tion the question of his guilt or innocence
of u public offense. You VIII allow no one
to question you as TO your own action or
the action of your associates and the Grand
Jury.
TO authorize you to find an Indictment or
presentment there must be concurrence of
at least twelve of your number; Il mere major
ity will not suffice.
The constitution, as you have observed,
speaks of presentment o. indictment by II
Grand Jury, The latter-the Indictment
is formal accusation mShe by the Grand
Jury charging party with thescommission
of public oficnse. Formerly 1t was the
practice in all courts having jurisdiction to
inquire by the intervention of Grand Jury
OF pubic OlIenSeS, HlllOuutillS 10 llt Slduc
of felonies-and such is the practice now
in many courts-for the public prosecutor
to hand to the Grand Jury an instru-
ment of their charaeter-that is, bill OF
an indictment in form, with list of
the witnesses to establish the oflense
charged. If in such case the Jury finds
| that the evidence produced justified the
| finding of an indictment they indorsed on
the instrument, "A true bill;" otherwise,
mot found" or mot u true bill," or the
| word "Ignoramus''-we know nothing OF
it-from the use of which latter word the bill
was sometimes said to be ignored
presentment differs from an indictment
| in that it wants technical form, and is usu-
ally found by the Grand Jury upon their
own knowledge, or upon the evidence before
| them, without having any bill from the
public prosecutor. 1t is an informal accusa-
| tion, which is generally regarded in the
| light of instructions upon which. an indict-
| ment can be framed
The form Of accusation has fallen in dis
| use since the practice has prevailed and
the p actice now obtains generally-for the
prosecuting officer to attend the Grand Jury
and advise them in their investigations.
The government now seldom delivers an
| Indictment to the Grand Jury in advance
of their actions, but generally awaits their
Judgment upon the matters laid before
them. The District Attorney has the
right to be present at the taking of testi-
| mony before you, for the purpose
of giving information or advice touching
any matter cognizable by you, and may
iuterrogate witnesses before you, but he has
no right to be present pending your dellber-
ations on the evidence. When your vote is
| taken upon the question whether an indict-
ment shall be found or a presentment made,
no person beside yourselves should be
present
Upon retiring, gentlemen, you will select
| a secretary, whose duty it will be TO keep a
minute of your proceedings, including a
correct record of attendances. No business
| can be transacted by you unless quorum
| of at least sixteen be present. You are not
| to adjourn for more than four days at a
time without the permission of the Court.
You are at liberty at any time to ask the ad-
vice of the Court upon any questions OF law
relating to matters under investigation
| before you, although you will probably find
| the advice of the District Attorney upon
L those matters sufficient to guide your action.